You're right. Probably not.
Sweet P's Godfather is fluent in Spanish. I told him that his duty as Godfather was to make sure she knew Spanish. But since he doesn't live here, I figured I better help him out a bit.
When Sweet P was 3 months old, I took her to an Hola Amigos class that was part of one of my Mommy & Me classes. I absolutely loved it. Did she? She liked it about as much as she likes any class I drag her to. But even though she didn't really have a clue what was going on, I learned a lot about teaching her another language. I even know Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in Spanish. Here are a few tips for you on teaching another language to your baby.
Speak it whenever you can. Don't worry about pronunciation or if you're doing right. Those silly babies are smart enough to know what's right even if it sounds wrong.
Read to them in other languages. If you know how to read other languages, I say go for it in any language. I am sticking to Spanish because it's what is most familiar (but if you are familiar with French, Italian, German, etc. try those too!). FREE tip: Check out bilingual books from the library. It's free! I checked out 2 today and read Eres Tu Mi Mama? (Are You My Mother?) to her tonight before bed.
If you know songs in another language, sing them to your baby! She'll love hearing your voice and the different sounds that other languages make.
Learn the ABC's and numbers in other languages. Fortunately, I remember this from high school Spanish (and I know French counting from ballet class). You can also make flashcards with simple vocabulary (colors, numbers, animals) such as Ojo Pardo (Brown Bear) or Dos Gatos (Two Cats).
If you really want to go for it, check out local classes in your area on teaching your children another language.
Sweet P may not be fluent by age 2, but she'll at least have heard me talking like a cartoon character in Spanish as often as I can. She'll benefit from hearing different sounds than those in the English language and I bet I'll learn a little bit, too.
